Merlijn Snitker - Film composer
Photo: Rogier Gerritsen
“I want my scores to have a strong personality: present, yet unobtrusive and always in support of the story. Music as an autonomous character, ánd a specific concept intricately interwoven with the scenario.“ Voilà the statement that defines the craftsmanship of Merlijn Snitker, one of Holland’s most successful Dutch film composers.
In 2010 Snitker won the Flemish ‘Outstanding Achievement Film Award’ for the soundtrack of Dossier K. and in 2016 his soundtrack for Publieke Werken (Public Works) was nominated for both a Gouden Kalf (the Dutch equivalent of the Oscar) ánd the Grand Scores Award 2017, a prize of the European Composer & Songwriter Alliance (ESCA). In 2018 he received his second Gouden Kalf-nomination for his soundtrack for Bankier van het Verzet (The Resistance Banker). This soundtrack was very well received by the press, amongst others by Movie Music UK:
'Bankier Van Het Verzet is a truly excellent dramatic orchestral score, filled with tension and emotion, occasional moments of suspense and action, and a dash of romance, topped with the familiar righteous heroism that one often hears in period scores about resistance fighters standing up to oppression. Overall the score comes highly recommended, especially for listeners who enjoy dramatic period scores use the orchestra in interesting ways.'
In 2020 he won the the Buma Award for Best Original Composition in a Television Series for De 12 van Schouwendam (The Schouwendam 12). And in 2022 he received his third Gouden Kalf-nomination for his soundtrack for Mijn Beste Vriendin Anne Frank (My Best Friend Anne Frank).
Son of an artist father and a cellist mother, Merlijn Snitker was born into the arts. He studied the saxophone at the conservatory and in the second half of the nineties he performed with his band Horn of Plenty. That band played amongst others at the prestigious North Sea Jazz Festival and made a radio hit song with an adaptation of a famous Dutch TV sports theme tune. Initially he was fascinated by the energy generated by playing live music. The excitement of performing, the audience and the fact that everything had to happen on the spot.
The doors of writing for the screen opened up for him when he was asked to compose music for a short animated movie. There, moulding and fine-tuning music for picture, he discovered a new way of working with more room for reflection and stepping back for a moment. A total different process than a live performance. The coercion of the image – in a positive sense -, as opposed to the established laws of composing, was much to his liking. Creating an arc of tension in varying time spans (as opposed to a fixed number of measures) offering a whole new challenge.
For almost 10 years Snitker paid his dues as a member of a successful composers trio that scored many Dutch success films, including the blockbuster Alles is Liefde (Love is All). As of 2013 Snitker became his own man, not only composing for the Dutch cinema, but also branching out to Belgium (The Prime Minister, Ritual and Styx) and Sweden (Siv Sleeps Astray).
Snitker’s method is characterized by concepts that link the score to the scenario. For instance in Dossier K., a story about a missing paper file, all the percussion parts are played on and with big sheets of paper. And as a sort of agreement with the audience Snitker almost always presents the leitmotivs and orchestrations at the beginning of the movie, an introduction, as it were, to the main musical characters. Snitker’s eclectic style, a cross-over of acoustic and electronic music, proves that soundtracks can be both inconspicuous and mesmerizing.
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